Petunias?  Snapdragons?  Lately I’ve been growing impatient with impatiens.  Bougainvilla, ficus, bird-of-paradise – our Southern California cities luxuriate in year-round ornamental gardens. 

Pretty bloomers, yes.  But truly, a mix of non-functional tropical plants slurping water in what is really a desert climate, usurping land use where urban space is now so precious.

Lawns and nonfunctional landscapes are a haughty scoff:  “I don’t need to produce food.”  Historically, these ornamental gardens and sweeping lawns originate with the emergence of the middle class and their desire to imitate the estates of the nobility.

“I don’t need to produce food” is an ostentatious attitude: I can afford to be dependent upon someone else for my basic sustenance, because I am the nobility. I am above it all.  I can transcend the basic critter-need of finding nourishment.  I can detach myself from the system of life and rely on processed products from the supermarket that come in colorful printed boxes or wrapped in non-biodegradable polystyrene and saran.

By declaring “I don’t need to produce food,” we are perpetuating a dependency on a national food production system which is deeply flawed with respect to soil resources, biodiversity and chemical inputs.  A system which is highly dependent upon exhaustible, polluting, greenhouse-gas-emitting petroleum products.

In the 1930s and 1940s nearly 20 million Americans turned to their gardens in support of that war effort. Called Victory Gardens, these backyard cultivations produced nearly 40% of the produce consumed. 

Yet the reality was, gardening grew more than just vegetables. Those gardens grew resilience, determination, self-reliance. They were an active way to participate in the solutions to world problems.

We gardeners have learned intimately the deep satisfaction of burying our fingers in the rich earth, as we provide what a plant needs to flourish. We have experienced the thrill of harvesting the first richly scented tomato, softened and warmed by the sun. Those inner feelings of satisfaction and thrill are empowering; we have achieved something. That tomato nourishes not just our belly, it nourishes our spirit.

We have discovered the visual beauty of the purple blossoms of Carouby de Maussane snowpeas, of scarlet-veined bouquets of rainbow chard, of the cherry chatter of multicolored sunflowers, all the while growing food for our bodies.  Those of us in condos or apartments have learned that most edibles can be grown in containers.  Forward-thinking gardeners are now realizing that the tree they choose to shade their yard from summer’s intensity, could be one that yields sweet navel oranges the next winter.

By growing our own, we boost our health through organics.  We foster biodiversity by raising heirloom varieties.  We reap all the benefits of the local-food movement:  seasonal, vine-ripened food; reduced dependency on agricultural conglomerates; lowered pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from transport.

In this time of environmental upheaval, with new reports of glacial melting, wildlife extinctions, forest destruction, furious hurricanes, we gardeners have found one unifying, rallying cry:  We do need to produce food. Clean food for our bodies, empowerment for our spirits, renewal for the earth. We need this very different sort of victory.

Our spirits need it, because it is tangible evidence that environmental transformation is real and is possible. Our bodies need it, because we can grow healthier at home. Our earth needs it, because in its seeds are restoration, political statement, environmental action, activism, and ultimately, victory.

Try it.  Drop yer bloomers, and try edibles.  Just one small pot, on a balcony.  One small corner of your yard.  One herb, one vegetable, or perhaps an ultra-dwarf fruit tree.  Re-establish the connection.  And begin to reap the victory.

Author Joanne Poyourow grows a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs in her Los Angeles home garden.  Her environmental novel, Legacy: A Story of Hope for a Time of Environmental Crisis, imagines possibilities for Los Angeles as greener ideas become part of our lifestyles.

Poyourow will discuss “Planning your spring vegetable garden” - including vegetables, herbs and fruit trees - at the February meeting of the Environmental Change-Makers.  She will share tips on garden design, layout, plant selection, safe seed sources, and organic gardening care. 

Read Joanne’s Edible Landscaping webpage

Why Edible Landscaping?

Growing even a small portion of your food …

• Cuts oil use/pollution/greenhouse gas emissions of importing food
• Land use:  puts city footprint to use
• Water use: landscape water performs dual duty – aesthetic AND food production
• Health: you control the amount of chemicals in your food
• Health: eating with the seasons means eating vegetables at maximum freshness, peak of ripeness, maximum nutrition
• Health: movement, weight-bearing exercise, stretching, fresh air
• Land stewardship: fewer chemicals on land and in storm drains to ocean (no ChemLawn)
• Nature:  foster biodiversity through heirloom vegetable varieties
• Nature: polycropping provides habitat and food for pollinators and other living species
• Composting means waste diversion from landfills; saves oil use/pollution/greenhouse gas emissions of hauling away green trash; builds rich soil life
• Spirit:  it’s fun, it’s relaxing, purposeful action is fulfilling, and edible landscaping reconnects us to the cycles of the planet

Read Joanne’s Edible Landscaping webpage